Still
by Flying Iridescent Llamas
Summary: Sometimes the only way to go forward is to just not move at all. Hau is left to deal with a volatile Pokemon at the Aether Foundation. (Haudion/Cutebonesshipping, written for theme #42 "Standing Still", fourth in the Isolation series)


Written for theme #42, "Standing Still".

Thanks to Hunterx700 for beta-ing this! 3

Wow! Almost all of my previous Haudion fics have at least 1000 views each! Thank you all so much!

If it's not apparent from the story, this takes place at least a decade after Pokemon Sun and Moon.

I guess it needs to be said, but the currently prevailing theory is that Mohn is Lillie and Gladion's father. The theory goes that after being sucked into a wormhole, he somehow made his way out into the Poke Pelago.

As always, my tumblr is llamastheflying if you wanna hit me up with any questions or complaints.

* * *

Gladion was stressed out beyond words.

He probably appeared calm to those who didn't know him well, but Hau saw the signs clearly: his left hand shaking just slightly, he kept flicking his hair back out of his face, the tension in his shoulders. He can understand it, of course. Even though he'd been back at Aether Paradise numerous times over the years, he couldn't quite shake his own paranoia of the place. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Gladion felt after growing up here, how painful it was to stay for a year acting in his mother's role while Lillie took care of her. No wonder he disappeared so quickly after her return. Despite it all, Gladion visited weekly to dig through the data in their labs.

Hau helped him prepare that morning in whatever way he could, from just holding him a bit longer in bed to helping him tie his hair back. It'd been a tense morning due to five people competing for one small bathroom, but they had managed. Even with Hau trying to help him, Gladion was tense as he pulled on a black button up and white blazer, so different from his usual torn hoodie that Hau had to wonder if it didn't act like some sort of armor for him when he visited. He commented on it, telling Gladion how good he looked, but he shrugged it off with an excuse of having to look like he sort of ran the place whenever he visited. Hau had never actually seen him dress up, as by the time he usually returned home Gladion had dressed down.

"Looking sharp," Blue said as they walked out at long last, giving Gladion an appraising look over that made a small ember of anger kindle in Hau's stomach. Gladion ignored him and clicked his tongue at Silvally, who had been glaring at Blue from its bed in the corner of the room (apparently "don't antagonize him" meant "don't menace him within a few yards' radius"). It happily leapt up to its feet and bounded over its trainer, the pain from yesterday a distant memory save for the bare ring around its neck.

"I'm going to go make sure we have a boat free for the day," Gladion told them. "With the amount of people we have, Charizards aren't exactly an efficient way to get to the Paradise."

He shut the door firmly behind him, leaving the rest of their small group to stare after him.

"Is he okay?" Dawn asked.

"I think so," Hau said as he recalled his Raichu into his ball. "Just a bit on edge from yesterday still."

The others seemed satisfied with that answer, but Hau worried.

* * *

Things went from bad to worse as they arrived at the Paradise. Hau managed to calm Gladion down just a hair more on the boat ride over by sitting with him with an arm around his shoulder, but it all unraveled in an instant when they stepped off the boat. Wicke was waiting to meet them, obviously having rushed down to the docks on short notice. There was an edge to her smile when she greeted them.

"Master Gladion," she said, "and company. Welcome to the Aether Paradise. We weren't expecting you today."

"You aren't usually ever expecting me," Gladion pointed out as his eyes narrowed, "nor do you ever meet me at the docks. Wicke, what is going on?"

The sound of the lift coming down from the floor above caused Wicke to go rigid and Hau could quickly see why.

"Gladion," Lillie greeted as she stepped off the lift, her oversized lab coat whispering around her legs, "I thought you wouldn't be back for at least a few more days."

"So you decided to sneak her back to Alola without letting me know? When were you planning on telling me?" he spat out. Behind Lillie, Lusamine slowly approached their group on unsteady legs. Her eyes lacked any of the sharpness from the last time Hau saw her ten years ago. She seemed not to notice anyone except her children.

"Hau, perhaps you and your friends…" Wicke started, but trailed off. She needn't finish though and Hau nodded.

"I'll meet you at the Conservatory," he told her. "Just give me a moment."

Wicke murmured her agreement and herded the champions toward the elevator Lusamine just stepped off of as Hau approached Gladion carefully.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" he asked lowly as he watched Lillie extend a hand to her mother to help steady her. For a moment, Gladion looked like he was about to turn his burning rage on Hau, about to sear him with years of his own pain as he continued to stare down his mother and sister. Then, he took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut as he forcefully exhaled through his nose.

"No," he murmured. "You should go. Take Silvally with you-there's a friend it will want to see in the Conservatory." He thrust his hand with Silvally's Pokeball out at Hau, who took it and squeezed his arm lightly. Gladion met his eyes briefly and Hau could see the raw fear and anger in them before he squared his shoulders and faced his mother and sister. Hau jogged to the lift and pressed the button for the Conservatory level. As he was lifted up and away from the family, he saw Lusamine turn her head to watch his ascent.

Only Wicke was waiting for him in the humid heat of the Conservatory.

"I sent the others on a tour with one of our employees," she explained. "I figured it was the best course of action to keep them distracted, for now."

"How long have you been aware of Lusamine returning?" he asked as he called Silvally out of its ball. It seemed disoriented at first, freezing to study its surroundings. It eyed Hau and Wicke before leaping off into the bushes near the walkway.

"Only about a week," she admitted, "and we thought that Gladion would be gone longer, due to the recent stall in research. The plan always had been for her to return to Alola. We just didn't know when."

"Why now?"

"There wasn't much more anyone in Kanto could do," she said as she watched a small group of Cottonee floated by. "The last of Nihilego's cells were separated from Lusamine's own six months ago. They've been working to reverse the damage from the neurotoxin, but it appears that only so much could be done. She has mostly been working to gain her mobility back and Lillie thought it was best she return here to continue in her recovery."

Hau huffed a sigh out and released the rest of his Pokemon. Unsurprisingly, what seemed to be Red's Pikachu appeared from the bushes and darted out onto the walkway, its ears back and tail flickering. His Raichu instantly darted after it and they disappeared into the underbrush together. Wicke giggled at the sight.

"Just...let me know when I should meet back up with everyone, okay? I'm not too great with what they'll be working on in the labs today, whenever they actually get there. I'm gonna go try to find Silvally and make sure it's not antagonizing anyone." Wicke nodded and stepped towards the lift. She paused as she reached for the switch.

"You might find it back over in that corner," she told him and pointed somewhere off behind him. "There's a Pokemon it likes to visit that hides back there, but beware: it's not at all friendly towards humans or Pokemon other than Silvally. We've had issues with it attacking some of our staff. It doesn't respond well to its Pokeball, but you should have it just in case." She procured an ordinary Pokeball from the bag at her side and handed it to him.

Hau thanked her and set off in the direction she'd pointed. He quietly made his way through the trees and brush, admiring what he thought might Blue's Exeggutor standing alongside its Alolan cousin as well as Red's Venusaur snoozing in a warm spot of light. As he neared the back corner, he could see why Wicke had warned him. Deep gouges marred the trees, rocks, and even the metal walkways.

Finally, he caught sight of Silvally sitting in front of an artificially constructed cave. It looked back over its shoulder at him before returning its attention to the cave. Hau wasn't able to see what resided in the shadows, but he had a feeling he knew what had Silvally so fixated. Carefully keeping an eye on the shadows, he sat behind Silvally and procured a bulging bag of Pokebeans from his pocket. He'd originally planned on sharing them as equally as he could among the Pokemon at the Paradise but now thought that perhaps they would do more good here. He'd dealt with plenty aggressive Pokemon as Kahuna and hoped that this one would be no different.

Silvally's ear flicked back at him before looking back over its shoulder at the familiar rustle and Hau showed it the bag. It chirped at the cave before approaching Hau. Something rustled within, but nothing emerged yet. He selected two beans from the bag and showed them to Silvally.

"If I give these to you, you'll need to share with your friend," he told it firmly, knowing how much of a glutton it could be if it had the chance. It seemed his worry was misplaced, though, when Silvally carefully took the beans from his flat palm and trotted over to the cave. The Pokemon inside snarled as it approached. Unfazed, Silvally dropped one of the beans in front of the entrance before backing off to eat its own.

At first, it seemed as though the Pokemon was still too scared to come out. Silvally finished its bean and chirped at the cave once more, and Hau could hear the faint tapping of claws on stone at last. He held his breath as a Type: Null slowly emerged from the shadows, head bowed even lower to the ground than was normal. He kept extremely still and averted his eyes to watch Silvally as he felt its gaze on him. It stared both him and Silvally down for a moment before it started to inspect the Pokebean and Hau let out a shaky breath. He watched it push around the bean with its helmet, obviously struggling to get it into its mouth.

Hau's heart ached for it. He could see the obvious pain it was in from the helmet on its head, see how it still flinched at the smallest of noises. If he wasn't certain that it would most likely maul him to death, he would scoop up all two hundred and some pounds of it and cuddle it in his arms. For now, he kept still. The Type: Null managed to finally get the bean after bracing it up against a rock. Silvally trotted back over to Hau and waited expectantly. He offered it another two beans, but it only took one. This time, it slowly approached the Null and dropped the bean where it could easily get it. As the Type: Null ate it, Silvally preened the dull feathers and fur on its companion's neck and back. It flinched minutely, but let Silvally continue.

Hau had to wonder if he hadn't startled the Type: Null into hiding when he approached and if it took this long to warm up to Silvally every time. He readied two more beans, rainbow this time, for Silvally as it returned but it only sat on its haunches by its side. The Type: Null looked between them and took a step back and suddenly Hau got the strangest feeling that he was being used to prove a point.

Silvally lay down on the ground by his side, almost curled around him, and snatched one of the beans from his hand before chewing on it furiously and staring at the Type: Null. It just plopped down on its haunches, looking as confused as a Pokemon with an obscuring helmet could actually do so. Silvally lay its head in his lap and looked up at him with eyes that seemed to say, "play along".

So he did, but the moment his hand went to touch Silvally's crest the Type: Null snarled and leapt to its feet, clearly intent on stopping Hau from whatever it thought he was going to do. Silvally's head snapped up out of his lap and it issued a warning growl in return, stopping the Type: Null in its tracks, before laying its head back down. Glancing at the Type: Null, Hau stroked Silvally from its beak up between its ears to where its crest start to curve. It didn't garner a growl, but the Type: Null sat again, closer than it had been. Cautiously, he continued the motion and Silvally let out a pleased rumble. The Type: Null tilted its head at that and watched them.

After several minutes of petting Silvally and it subsequently turning into as much of a puddle as it could in his lap, Hau decided to be brave. He lifted his other hand and made sure the Type: Null was watching him so it wouldn't be startled, and reached for the other neglected Pokebean on the ground. Still petting Silvally, he extended his hand with the Pokebean on it towards Type: Null.

It didn't react at first, and Hau thought for a second that perhaps he was being too optimistic. Slowly, though, it rose to its feet and crept towards his hand. Silvally increased its purring the closer it got. Finally, the Type: Null stood before him and Hau could see it trembling. He froze in place as he felt the familiar scrape of a metal beak against his fingers as it gently ate the Pokebean. It backed up a few paces before it sat once more.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it bud?" he asked it, almost whispering and feeling a more than a little giddy. He grabbed another bean from the bag and offered it to Silvally (who was more than happy to eat it) before offering another to Type: Null. This time, it was quicker to to approach him and eat it from his hand, and the trembling had lessened. It didn't back away and instead waited for Hau to fetch another bean.

"I'm going to have to cut you off here soon," he told it softly. "Your friend here can tell you that having similar genes as the creator of the universe doesn't stop you from puking rainbows if you eat too many of these things."

He fed it a couple more before cinching the bag shut, much to the displeasure of both Silvally and Type: Null. He extended his hand again, empty this time, and Type: Null froze. It backed away towards its cave once more, but didn't totally disappear in the shadows. Instead, it paced a bit at the entrance before laying down and closing its eyes. Hau sighed. Couldn't win 'em all, he supposed. By then, Silvally was lightly dozing in his lap, effectively put to sleep by Hau's strokes. He shoved its heavy head out of his lap and it grumbled, but moved to just lay beside him with a huff. Hau reclined back against it as it settled back down and stared up at the domed ceiling where a few Cutieflies zoomed overhead.

"Well, I guess the best way to keep you both out of trouble for now might just be napping with you," he told Silvally.

It only sighed in response.

* * *

Hau jolted awake what felt like moments later at the sound of his name being called out. The sky overhead told him it'd been more like a few hours, though. Silvally wiggled out from under his head and bounded off to who knew where, letting him hit his head against the ground, and Hau was left with something warm and trembling curled up at his side. He propped himself up on his elbows to see Type: Null huddled by his side. It met his gaze fearfully and it seemed to be waiting for him to hurt it for daring to be so close.

"It's alright, bud," he whispered to it softly. "Everyone likes to cuddle."

Slowly, he rolled on his side and reached out a hand to stroke down its back. It still shivered in fear, but didn't bolt. His name echoed through the Conservatory once more and Type: Null flinched.

"Shh, it's alright," he murmured as he stroked it one more time before carefully getting up and brushed the dirt from his clothes. Type: Null clambered to its feet and nervously looped back towards the entrance of the cave, still watching Hau. He heard crashing through the bushes behind him and turned in time to see Gladion and Silvally emerge.

Gladion looked worse for the wear, with red rimmed eyes and usually immaculate hair tossed every which way. Hau had a feeling the glue holding him together would probably dissolve as soon as he was alone. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of the Type: Null fleeing into the cave. Silvally ran after it, crying, but the Pokemon didn't come back out.

"Did it actually come out for you?" he asked.

"For a while," Hau answered as he opened the Pokebean pouch once more. The soft rustle of the beans caught the attention of both Silvally and Type: Null, who peered out of the shadows. He spilled a few on the ground and shooed off Silvally as it dove towards them and made off with a rainbow bean. "Glutton," he called after it as it ran off with its prize.

Gladion let out a laugh, though it was hoarse and quiet.

"It hasn't let anyone else approach," he said. "It's taken to attacking anyone who even comes near it, especially Faba or any of the scientists. I'm surprised it's letting us get this close."

"It doesn't like you?" Hau asked, surprised. Gladion shook his head.

"It was hard enough to bond with one of them," he admitted. "This one was in captivity, and then in cryo, much longer than its siblings. I hoped letting it live here would help improve its temperament, but we've had no luck so far."

Hau gazed sadly at the Type: Null as it slunk partly back into the shadows, waiting for them to leave so it could eat the beans.

"I assume it's time to go?" he asked. Gladion nodded and sighed as he ripped the hair tie out of his hair. Hau winced at the harsh treatment of his hair, but Gladion never did anything in half measures.

"For today, at least. We've gotten a start on sequencing the DNA sample Blue provided. It'll be quite a while before it's done and even longer before we can start matching the two sequences. Blue is going to stay here for the night while Red and Dawn will be heading to Heahea so Dawn can check out the Battle Royal."

Hau looped an arm around his waist and started to lead him away from the Type: Null. Gladion instantly lost some of the tension in his shoulders and rested his head on Hau's shoulder as they walked.

"And what are we doing tonight?" he asked softly, gently stroking his thumb against Gladion's side.

"I just want to go home," he said as they turned approached the lift, where Silvally was waiting for them, "but that's not going to happen, it seems. I'm staying here tonight."

"I'm staying with you," Hau told him. Gladion removed himself from Hau's hold and shook his head.

"No, you're not. I don't want you here while I deal with this mess. You have enough on your plate as Kahuna, you don't need my family drama as well."

Hau felt his frustration steadily building and grabbed Gladion's hand.

"And what about you, Gladion?" he asked. "You don't need this either." He lifted up Gladion's hand to his lips and pressed a light kiss against his knuckles.

"Let me be here for you," he pleaded. Gladion's eyes glimmered with tears threatening to spill over, but he still shook his head.

"No," he finally said. "Please, Hau. Just go home, and take Silvally with you. Lillie and I need to deal with this issue on our own."

Frustrated and displeased, Hau pulled him into a tight hug. He knew Gladion's stubbornness would outpace his own in this instance.

"Call me if anything goes wrong," he murmured into Gladion's ear. "I mean anything. I don't care if it's in the middle of the night."

He felt Gladion hesitantly return the hug.

"I will," he whispered back and Hau let go. Gladion walked with him to the lift and firmly instructed Silvally to behave. Picking up that its trainer was once more leaving it started to fuss, but Gladion silenced it with a level look as Hau recalled his gathered Pokemon into their balls. Finally, Hau recalled Silvally into its ball before facing Gladion once more. Surprisingly, Gladion threw his arms around Hau's shoulders and kissed him so harshly their teeth clacked together. Hau eagerly kissed him back until both of them had to break away for air.

"I'll be back with Silvally tomorrow evening," Hau told him. "I don't know if we can manage to not burn down the house without you."

That, at least, got a chuckle out Gladion as they parted.

Hau realized as soon as he boarded the boat back to Melemele that he still had Type: Null's Pokeball with him. It was far too late to give it back to Wicke, however, so he made sure it was securely fastened alongside the rest of the balls on his belt. Normally, he would have called a Charizard to ride back to Melemele but the sun had already set and the thought of flying high above the ocean during the night made his stomach turn. Hau let Silvally of its ball as soon as they reached port and they walked home together after Hau picked up food for them both. It stuck close to his side and kept pushing its head under his hand as they followed the road up the mountain. It was fairly late by the time they finally reached the dark house and Hau felt absolutely exhausted.

Home was strange without Gladion after having him there for so long. It felt empty and lonely and Hau couldn't find it in himself to stay up much longer after he fed both of their Pokemon. Thankful that he changed the sheets before leaving that morning, he crawled into bed after shucking off his shirt and taking out the clips from his hair. He placed his Xtransceiver on the nightstand and listened to Silvally pace around the living room restlessly for a while before finally seeming to settle down.

It seemed like forever that he lay there just staring up at the ceiling. The day seemed so short but so much had happened between Lusamine's unexpected arrival and the Type: Null in the gardens and he couldn't clear his head to get to sleep. Most of all, he was worried about Gladion. He jumped when the Xtransceiver rang, rattling loudly against the wood, and hurriedly grabbed it before it wake up the Pokemon in the living room. Waiting for him was a message from Gladion.

 _I can't get to sleep,_ it said. _Sorry if I woke you up_.

 _You're fine_ , Hau typed out, _because neither can I._

Gladion doesn't respond for so long that Hau thought maybe he finally fell asleep.

 _I wish I would have come back with you tonight. It's too quiet here and there's too many bad memories._

 _I can always come and rescue you_ , he sent back.

 _I'm not a damsel in distress that needs to be rescued, Hau. My mother is hardly the dragon she used to be._

 _You're certainly gorgeous enough to belong in a fairy tale_ , Hau countered, _and I'd love to be the prince that saves you._

 _Idiot_ , was all the next message read and Hau could imagine how red Gladion's face was, how the blush would start to creep down his neck to his chest.

He quickly shoved that thought back into the dark corner it came from. That train of thought was probably the farthest thing from Gladion's mind right now.

 _You just don't want to admit how much you liked that_ , he teased in return.

 _Maybe it's more like I don't want to encourage you so I can sleep tonight._

Hau sucked in a breath and resisted the temptation to smother himself with the nearest pillow. Apparently he wasn't the only one thinking things he shouldn't tonight.

Something hot settled in the pit of Hau's stomach as he messaged back, _Is this something I should remember for later?_

Again, it took a bit for Gladion to respond.

 _Yes._

Hau's stomach did a funny little flip and he buried his head into his pillow to calm down. Gladion had clearly drawn a line for tonight and he was going to respect that, no matter what his raging hormones urged him to do. The Xtransceiver buzzed again.

 _Are you still there? Or did I break you?_

 _You might have, just a little_ , Hau admitted. _Are you doing alright, other than the lack of sleep?_

 _Better than I thought I would be,_ Gladion replied. _She's like a Pyroar without teeth and claws. It mostly just hurts to see her. All the anger I had just feels hollow because it was never really her that did everything._

 _What's going to happen now?_ Hau asked. A stream of messages poured in.

 _She's on house arrest, for lack of a better term, and is completely removed from the workings of the organization. The one highlight of the day was seeing Faba so disappointed when she refused to step back into her old position. I think he sincerely thought everything would go back to the way it was before she left. How's Silvally?_

 _Grumpy. It's not happy that you've left it alone so much today._ Hau was starting to notice longer and longer gaps between the messages. _You should probably try to sleep again, Gladion._

 _I don't really want to. It's tempting to go back down to the labs and start sifting through the data we have so far._

 _I'm not rescuing you if you're going to be in an awful mood_.

 _What happened to being my valiant prince?_

 _I only said I would rescue a distressed damsel, not a sleep deprived dragon. You're bad enough in the mornings with a full night's rest. Go to bed._

 _Fine._

Hau was worried for a bit that he might have cut Gladion off a bit early but the buzzing of his Xtransceiver with a new message quickly brought him relief. Gladion had sent him a picture, taken in the low light of lamp in whatever room he was staying in. His hair was fanned out on the pillow and Hau could see that his eyes were slightly more dilated than normal. The immediate message following it was _I miss you_. _Good night_.

Hau snapped a picture of himself in return and sent it off.

 _I miss you too. Good night._

In the morning, Hau found himself cursing the intelligence of both Pokemon that normally slept in the living room. He awoke to Silvally tackling him in bed, most likely let into the room by Raichu unlocking the door from the other side and manipulating the handle. Silvally's talons quickly tangled in the sheets and Hau was left with a thrashing Pokemon smack in the middle of his bed.

"You know, this isn't making seeing him any easier," he told Silvally as he tried to free it from the sheets. They were a lost cause due to the sharpness of Silvally's talons, but the Pokemon kept struggling and getting itself trapped once more. Luckily, the comforter had been spared due to being thrown onto the floor during the hot summer night. Hau could see now why Gladion's clothes seemed perpetually shredded.

After finally freeing Silvally and lightly scolding Raichu, Hau prepared breakfast for himself and the rest of the Pokemon in the house. He keenly felt Gladion's absence, even if he was an absolute grump in the mornings, but tried to push it from his mind. He would see him soon enough.

The day dragged on with absolutely no respite. He received a message early on from the International Police alerting him to a possible spatial anomaly opening up on Ten Carat Hill, but it turned out to be more frustrating than rewarding. Silvally had followed him there and spent most the afternoon chasing around a Nihilego that floated in and out of existence around the secluded meadow, making it impossible for Raichu to land a solid Thunder Wave or Hau to lob a Beast ball at it. It seemed to be toying with Silvally and Hau was careful to keep an eye on it as it materialized in different locations, unwilling to become another victim of its neurotoxins. Finally, Silvally managed to chase it back into the spatial rip just as it closed. By the time he managed to leave the meadow, it was late afternoon bordering on evening. Hau managed to coax Silvally back into its ball before paging a Charizard to take off for Aether Paradise.

Surprisingly, it was Lillie who met him at the entrance of the Paradise, not Gladion. She seemed relieved to see him.

"Thank goodness you're here," she said after she greeted him. "I think Gladion might seriously murder someone if he's here much longer."

"Anyone in particular?" he asked as they entered the Paradise.

"Faba, of course," Lillie said, about as close to sounding genuinely disdainful of him as she could. "He tried to tamper with whatever Gladion and Blue are working on last night. We've had to completely revoke his access codes, but I don't doubt it won't be long before he's found a way back in. Whatever is going on with Silvally and the other Type: Nulls is something he doesn't want to come to light. Even Mother isn't entirely sure what went into the Beast Killer project. She only specified what the Foundation needed to initially combat the Ultra Beasts before she shut down it completely when the combination of Nihilego's neurotoxins and the radiation from the anomalies started to change her."

"She actually said something about it?"

"Yes, last night," Lillie admitted before sighing. Hau followed her through the main doors and towards the lift. "I think she was trying to...I don't know, get on his good side by telling him? But it only made him angrier in the end."

Hau steadied himself against the railing of the lift as it started to rise up. He could already hear something screaming before they'd even reached the level of Conservatory. Lillie seemed to have frozen in place on the lift as Hau sprinted off it as soon as it stopped, releasing both Raichu and Silvally from their balls. Silvally darted ahead, an answering cry ripping from its throat.

The screaming was coming from the back corner where he had left Type: Null only the day before and he sincerely regretted taking its Pokeball with him, even if it had been an accident. He hoped that whoever was handling it wasn't going to extreme lengths to subdue it.

It would only drive Type: Null further into its shell, further away from any chance of ever trusting humans again.

He finally broke through the brush with Raichu on his heels, a Thunder Wave brewing and ready between its small paws. Aether Foundation stood back away from the cave with their own Pokemon uneasily standing in front of them. To Hau's surprise, Gladion emerged from the cave with Silvally at his side. His clothes were shredded and Hau could see the beginnings of blood staining his white jacket and face.

In his arms was a squirming and whining Type: Null.

All of the employees took a step back as Gladion approached Hau.

"How did you…" Hau started but Gladion made a shushing sound before extending out his arms with the Type: Null.

"Take it. It's not as heavy as Silvally is, since it was the first prototype they managed to produce."

Hau reluctantly cradled the Type: Null to his chest. It surprisingly did not lash out at him, but it did hiss and swipe at Gladion, who only took a step back out of reach of its talons. Gladion was right, however. The Type: Null was much smaller than Silvally had ever been before it evolved, but it was still extremely heavy due to its helmet. He tapped the button on the Pokeball at his side and the Type: Null disappeared in a flash of light.

"That would have been a lot easier if you'd left that here," Gladion said and dabbed at the blood dripping down his face with his ruined sleeve. The employees and their Pokemon seemed to collectively relax as soon as the Type: Null was out of sight.

"Why did you go after it in the first place?" Hau asked. Silvally licked Gladion's blood covered fingers and he pushed it away in disgust.

"It's not doing well here," he said after he dismissed the employees. "The only improvement I've seen in it in months was when you were working with it yesterday. I wanted to give it once last chance before we had to permanently relocate it or put it back into cryo." At Hau's stricken look, he held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "I don't want to put it back in cryo either, but it's a danger to itself and everyone around it if it can't learn to calm down. I was hoping maybe you would be able to work with it further on the mainland, away from all the stimuli here. Also...Faba was trying to do something to it this morning after we locked him out of the labs and I want it out of here before he can harm it."

"You think I'm up to the task?" Hau asked incredulously.

"You have a lot of experience with out of control wild Pokemon already," Gladion pointed out, "and you haven't done a half bad job with a similar case."

Hau raised an eyebrow at him before the realization hit him. Gladion was talking about _himself_. He recalled Raichu into the ball and cleared his throat, a little embarassed.

"I'll try," he said as he reached out and caught Gladion's hand. "But no promises."


End file.
